Spatial Vectors and Rigid-Body
Dynamics

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Spatial vectors are 6D vectors that simplify the task of describing,
analysing, or calculating rigid-body dynamics. This page contains
materials to help you learn spatial vector algebra, and
software to help you perform dynamics calculations.

A Short Course on Spatial Vector
Algebra

This is an introductory course that takes approximately one
day. The materials below are (believed to be) suitable for self
study.

Some Books and Papers

Robot Dynamics Algorithms
(1987).
[link to Amazon].
This is the original book on dynamics algorithms and spatial
vectors. Although it is still worth reading, it has been
superceded by the book below. The treatment of spatial vectors
in this book is a little different from the modern treatment.

Rigid Body Dynamics Algorithms
(2008).
[link to Amazon].
This is the new book on dynamics algorithms and spatial vectors.
The accompanying software is listed below.

Springer Handbook of Robotics
(2008).
[link to Amazon].
Chapter 2 in this handbook (co-authored by myself and Prof. David Orin)
contains a concise description of spatial vectors and the most important
algorithms for robot dynamics.